Called to inferno

1. RefProt April 9th, 2012 9:56 pm :

   “This is all news to Protestants who lack knowledge of Second Temple Judaism and Church History.”

   Krister Stendahl, J.D.G. Dunn, N.T Wright, Mark Seifrid, Peter O’Brien, Seeyon Kim, etc,.
   Guess what all these guys who have written on STJ (from varying perspectives) have in common?

   Christ descended into Hell to deliver the Old Testament saints from Abraham’s Bosom, or as it is called in Catholic theology, the Limbo of the Fathers.

   I understand you believe this is what the creed teaches, but what evidence do you have to substantiate this? Then you say,

   How then do we respond to John Piper? He’s simply not biblical. He fundamentally does not understand what Christ means by “paradise” and its relationship in the Jewish mind to Sheol or the Underworld.

   None of the passages you have quoted require the interpretation you present. Many Catholic scholars would disagree. For example, William Dalton, SJ, has written the definitive treatment of 1 Peter 3:18-22 and disagrees that this in anyway refers to the descensus.
   Finally, you say,

   Why is it that Catholicism has continuity with the Judaism of Jesus Christ, but Anabaptistic theology has no continuity whatsoever-either theologically or chronologically?

   You don’t treat Piper’s primary text in Luke, you assert that Jesus couldn’t mean what Piper says. There is no compelling reason to accept your argument. Lexically, Louw and Nida say, “this word [is] generally equated with ouvrano, or ‘heaven.’” παραδείσῳ typically means Garden and in the NT is used with reference to the kingdom of God (harkening back to the Garden of Eden). From the biblical and apocryphal literature you do not find the distinctions you are making regarding παραδείσῳ.
2. RefProt April 9th, 2012 10:08 pm :
   Adrienne,
   Taylor did not mention this for some reason but the reason to “edit” the Creed is because there is discussion about the originality of the phrase in the creed. There is widespread doubt in the academic community regarding the authenticity of the “descensus” view. That does not mean that it was not there, but there are some (and there are Catholics among their number) who believe that it was added to the Creed at a later date.
   Popular articles are available here:
   http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/asktheexpert/nov15.html
   This quote from Britannica, “This phrase was probably the last to be added to the creed. Its principal source in the New Testament was the description in I Pet. 3:18–20 of Christ’s preaching to the spirits in prison. ”
   Here is an article in favor of the position which relates some of the historical ambiguity (and mentions Grudem):http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/35/35-1/JETS_35-1_091-099_Scaer.pdf